Tag Archives: Mordechai

Don’t make waves! Better not to draw attention to yourself and make this seem like it’s only a Jewish issue. It’s not good for the Jews…

The tactic has been used for years by Jewish community leaders, especially in the western world, to evade the responsibility of standing up for their fellow Jews who are in danger or even facing annihilation. “It’s not good for the Jews” really means, “We’re scared to death of being viewed as trouble-makers and as politically incorrect, part of the lunatic fringe of fear-mongers. We might lose our social standing and our access to the powers that be. People might use our actions as an excuse to hate Jews even more than they do now.”

We’re about to celebrate the festival of Purim. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the story, click here.

The Jews of the Persian Empire were about to be exterminated through the machinations of the evil Haman. Had Mordechai and especially Queen Esther reacted like the cowardly leaders of more modern times, there might not be a Jew left on earth today (this, of course, is strictly hypothetical because God promises that the Jewish people as a nation can never be wiped out).

Esther was the queen of Persia, living in the royal palace, and up to this time no one knew she was Jewish. She might have been able to escape the fate that had been decreed on her people. On the other hand, to go to the king and plead for them might have cost her her life. Here is what she said in a message to her cousin Mordechai,

“Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!” (Esther 4:16)

That’s courage! She broke Persian law by approaching the king unannounced, a deed that usually led to instant death. Instead, with the backing of prayer and fasting, it led to a great deliverance.

How many of our leaders, Jewish, political or otherwise are willing to put their lives on the line today? The threats are just as serious as they were in the time of Esther and Mordechai and many of them are coming from the same source – Persia, today known as Iran. The modern day Haman, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has made his views and his intentions clear. These are direct quotes:

• All values, even the freedom of expression, in Europe and in the United States are being sacrificed at the altar of Zionism.

The reaction of the spineless – or complicit – world? Give Mr. Ahmadinejad center stage at the United Nations so he can spew his venom in an unfettered manner. And then find a way to get around the “harsh sanctions” that have been clamped on Iran to prevent them from going nuclear. Twenty countries have so far been granted exemptions by the Obama administration. Some sanctions!!

There are numerous other Hamans today, driven by the same evil spirit that has attempted to wipe out the Jews numerous times. One of the names by which he has been known in more recent centuries is “Allah.” So whether Israel has to deal with Mahmoud Abbas, the so-called moderate leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mohamed Morsi of Egypt, the leaders of Hamas in Gaza, Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader in Lebanon and Syria, the same evil that empowered Haman energizes them and their hatred.

Europe’s obsequious leadership, as expected, has nicely fallen into line, obediently calling evil good and good evil. What else can be expected from a populace that by and large has shoved God out of society and is now wallowing in its own mess? But what about the United States?

It’s worrisome that a known anti-Semite like Chuck Hagel has been nominated for Secretary of Defense. And then there’s Muslim sympathizer Robert Brennan, nominated for CIA Director. Both men’s views of Jews and Israel are far out of the American mainstream and in Brennan’s case, heavily influenced by Islamist ideology. Jewish groups are grumbling but, except for the Zionist Organization of America (ZOA), they have been afraid to step up and speak out strongly. They’ve been told by the administration in no uncertain terms to “sit down and shut up!” And they’re being good little lap dogs and obeying their master, even though the lives of millions of Jews, whom they supposedly represent, are in jeopardy.
We are in desperate need in these days of men and women with the courage of Mordechai and Queen Esther, who will put their faith in God and then be willing to do the right thing, come what may.